Happy New Year! It's 2008!

And it's the last day I have off before I have to go back to work. Sigh. Oh well, it could always be worse! Otter is off tomorrow, she's going to work with me and then Billyboy is off the rest of the week.

We've enjoyed our vacation and got quite a bit accomplished. Just wish it could be longer.

Like I said yesterday, no black eyed peas for us today! I made a big pot of beans this morning, using Mom's recipe of course, and I put a bunch of containers in the freezer. I also have a bowl set aside to take to Grandpa sometime this week. But I didn't quite get organized enough to make cornbread this time.

I was in bed by 9:30 last night, and I think Bill made it until about 10:00. We're assuming that Otter and her friends probably stayed up way past midnight, it's nearly noon now and I haven't heard from her yet to come get her so they could still be asleep as far as we know!

I'm not making resolutions, I don't really believe in them anyway. But I am going to do a few things like continue with the weight loss and I'd really like to stay healthy this year thank you very much...

And I'd really like to be able to save my sick leave and not use it all in one whack this year! I actually used more than my allotted time when I had my surgery, but my bosses were very nice and didn't dock me for the extra time. They could also have told me to use my vacation time towards it, but they didn't do that either. They are great to work for.

I also have my first craft project of 2008 lined up: I have two milk cans, one is from Mom and at one point she painted it white. The other one came from an auction a few years ago, probably before we moved - I don't remember, it's just been a while. It is painted black and it has sunflowers on it, it's nice but not really my style. Both of them have been outside in the elements, I've used them for plant stands and they are getting rusted and the paint is peeling. So I'm going to redo them. They'll both need to be sanded down to the metal or at least a lot of the paint removed, and as much of the rust as I can get off. It's just a light surface rust, they are in pretty good shape. I'm going to use rustoleum or some type of a protectant spray on them, and then they might be a solid color or I might do some decorating but I will figure that out as I get to that stage. They will probably be brought back inside instead of getting outside and weathered again. Froggy, they were out on the back deck. One had a plant on it and the other one had the small copper fountain on it, by the trellis. Maybe I'll have them finished by the time you come up here again in the summer.

The other project is to turn the cast-iron toy stove back into a lamp. Bill just brought it in from the garage yesterday, all parts are there but it has a slight rusted spot that I have to deal with. No luck on finding a lamp kit, but I'm going to Lowe's this afternoon when I pick up Otter and I'll look for one there. If I can't find one, then I have another option - we have a small lamp that is sitting in the living room by the love seat (where the stove lamp will go) and I can always take it apart and cannibalize it for the stove lamp. There were originally two of the lamps, one fell over and broke many months ago and we tossed it. We should have kept it! But at that point, I didn't have plans to make the stove into a lamp again.

Bill's been working on his quilt a lot over the last few days. Remember all those maternity fatigues he got out of a dumpster at the school? We sold a few on eBay and we donated quite a few to Goodwill or Salvation Army. There were a lot that Bill kept to use as rags, but he decided to use them for quilt fabric instead. I've used some of it in crafting, but there are a lot left still. So Bill's been making a quilt out of camo fabric. I started a quilt when Otter was in kindergarten, and he's nearly caught up with mine.

I don't work on mine very often, although I have sewn a few squares together recently. I need to get back on it, but I have had other projects that were more pressing. I have at least one box, maybe two, of Mom's and Dad's clothing that I brought back with me with the intention of using them in the quilt and I think I'm going to get on that in the next few weeks. A lot of my quilt fabric comes from clothing that we had as kids, a lot of which was made by Aunt Jessie. I will eventually get my quilt finished, hopefully before Otter's grandkids graduate high school! :)

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(OK, It's later and the party girl is home). I ran a few errands, I went to Lowe's and looked at lamp kits. And I discovered that while they do sell parts for lamp conversions, each individual piece is sold seperately and in different sizes & styles. In other words, I was clueless! I told Bill that he'll have to go with me because I wouldn't even know where to begin. But since it's not usually hard to force him to go to Lowe's... Actually, I sometimes think he'd live there if he could!

I also went to Hobby Lobby while I was out, Christmas clearance is now 66% off but they don't have a lot. Let me rephrase that - they don't have a lot of variety but what they have, they have a lot of. Lots of stuff that didn't sell because it's ugly! There were a few other things left, I found some clear glass ornaments because I have another painting project in mind with them. Different from the project Otter and I did a couple of years ago, and it might not work but it might and I'll have fun with it anyway. Oh, I found a plastic wreath holder so I won't have to use a bent up clothes hanger again!

Otter enjoyed her first "real" party last night, they stayed up until 4:30 and then they slept until 11:30 this morning. They watched lots of movies and had a good time. But I'm thinking that she'll be ready for bed early tonight.

I think it's time to go start steaming the tamales now!